Log:Jakku Sunrise
Jakku Sunrise
Location: Niima and the Ship Graveyard, Jakku
Participants: Ari, Kyanggha, Sion, Ysille Vale, Zaena
Ysille steps down from the boarding ramp, applying a bit of balm to her lip with one fingertip. "Reminds me of home," she grins, "Though the sand isn't black," she concedes, "And it isn't crawling with corellians," she tacks on with a laugh, looking about, nodding her head. "You found a gem, here, Zaena," she observes, spotting a ship graveyard off to the East.
Zaena gives a grin back to Ysille as she swishes the cape that she purchased in a nice shop on Mon Calamari on the way. "What do you think?" she asks. "If the sun gets really oppressive, I can cover up," too," she says, with a smirk. "But it's not annoying around the neck like a hood. Anyway, I was thinking we definitely should get some sun hats," she says. "We can easily find some cardboard or the like over at that settlement to make them from," she says. "Or do you want to scout out the ship graveyard to the east, first?"
Ysille wraps her head up with a scarf in the fashion of one who grew up in the heat of another desert world. With a pair of goggles on over her eyes, she shrugs her eshoulders, "Something over your head is a good idea, even with my blue skin, I can burn after enough exposure," she says with a nod of her head. "Got your water bottle?" she asks, patting her own as she slings it over her shoulder with a string.
"Reminds me too!" Ari says, hopping her way down the ramp. "I decided to join you both. I need more time next to computers like I need a third lekku." Is that a twi'lek saying? Her hand rises to shield her eyes from the sun, the purple girl taking a moment to adjust to the bright light. Once she does, she turns on her feet as her sharp gaze pans around them in all directions, eventually stopping as she stares far out toward the east. "Wow. That airspeeder is sounding even better now."
Her goggles are pulled down over her eyes, and she starts to wrap a loose-fitting white cloth over her head, securing it a moment later with an elastic strap. She has water too, though not much preparation beyond that. "I guess we're walking the whole way?" It's not clear whether or not that's a good idea, given her physical history, but she doesn't seem to be hesitating. "Hopefully I can keep up," is all she says.
Zaena nods. "I think we can maybe...yeah, I think that's a good idea," she says to Ysille. "Plus, I sent a message on the ship's holoterminal back to the guild. Just to let them know where we are. And to know that we wouldn't mind meeting up with anyone who happens to be in the region," she says. "That way, at /least/ someone would come looking for us, and we have a check-in time too," she says, with a smile. "Tomorrow morning. So that should be good for starters, right?" she asks. "I was thinking if we considered hiring some sort of crew, well, they might have speeders and porters or something like that," she suggests, thoughtfully.
She shakes her head. "So, no, I don't want to walk the whole way. My cape might get frayed."
"I'm not sure what manpower prices are here. I'd be careful, though, about hiring help. This is a poor world. There are probably plenty of people liable to stab you in the back if we run across a good find," Ari states, a bit of cynicism creeping into her tone. "I'm honestly more inclined to follow Ysille's plan. We go into town, ask around for information, maybe pay for a few leads. Most of them will probably be junk or misinformation, but tips are cheap, and once we're back in the Habit, we can cover ground quickly while surveying." There's a pause as gears in the other twi'lek's head spin.
"We'll probably end up getting leads sending us to hulks above the sand that have already been cleared out. Doubt anyone in a place like this is eager to share good salvage spots. But what we have that they don't is a ship and ship-based sensors. Using one of those tips as a starting point, the Habit might find something buried beneath the sand that is worth something that the salvagers here haven't picked clean."
Zaena gives a frown as she sees a parked YT-1300 out there, under a tarp. "Would you look at that ancient hunk of junk? I'm kind of worried if something that worthless is actually being given a parking spot," she says, shaking her head. "But hopefully the wrecks out in the ship graveyard will be in better condition," she says. "And that's true, exactly," she says, with a grin to Ari. "I think you're exactly right. Can you operate the sensors then?" she asks.
Ysille smirks, "Those old junkers are everywhere," she says, glancing at the YT left to the elements. "We flew over a few big cruisers on the way in, there must have been one hell of a battle here back during the war." She glances to Ari, "If we could find a working computer on some of them, do you think you could gather the ships logs? I'm sure historians in the core would be very interested in that sort of thing."
"Yes to both. I know the basics of sensor operation, though this will be my first time using them aboard a ship. I'm pretty sure I can figure it out, though." She seems really confident in her ability to improvise. "I guess that third seat in the cockpit is mine, then." The YT-2400 has three seats: one for the pilot, another for a copilot, and a third for engineering and sensors.
Ari starts to look around at the milling workers in the settlement, her eyes seeming to linger on some of a few of the wandering droids. "I've stolen data from a ship's computer before, but never a derelict. Power might be an issue. I can't just boot up a cruiser's central computer with the power from my bracer. Unless we bring along a gonk." A gonk? "Either we find and rent one here, or I just think of something when we get there. The former might be better. If I can't actually slice on-site, then we'll probably end up just ripping out databanks and hoping I find something good after-the-fact on that particular piece of hardware. Brute force solutions like that aren't really my first choice. I figure I'm here to do better work than that."
Ysille nods her head, "IF the copper's still in, we could try running an umbilical from the Habit to power the systems," she suggests as they walk along towards the settlement at a liesurely pace. "But pulling any databanks might be a good idea, too. You know, for authenticity."
"That's definitely a good call," confirms Zaena to Ysille, and then turns to Ari. "A gonk? What's a gonk?" she asks. "Oh, and we should be meeting another person from the Guild here, who has some survival and exploring experience. She goes by the name ofh, uh, kiang-uh," she guesses, hoping that she got that one right.
Standing at the outskirts of the settlement, looking in with wary eyes, are three travelers. They're all carrying water, and each of them are wearing loose cloth head coverings, a few with eyes shielded by goggles. By the looks of it, they walked here, likely from the dust field landing area to the east. These might just be the explorers Kyanggha is looking for. Whoever they are, they're definitely not from around here. Their clothes, beyond their basic protective gear, look suited for entirely different environments. One of them even looks like she walked out of a Nar Shaddaan club. They're prepared, though only just barely.
Not that subtlety would've served these three women much, anyway. Even if they had tried to pass as just another salvager in the camp, their skin color alone catches the eye. Two are a pale, lavender purple: twi'leks almost certainly by skin tone alone, even without seeing their lekku. The third is blue: not a unique identifier, but rare enough to be noticed. Even at a distance, they do match the description given to Kyanggha during Zaena's check-in with the guild.
Emerging out into the middle of nowhere on a plant that is full of the middle of nowhere is a wookiee. An armed and armoured and with a pack, wookiee. Kyanggha seems to be looking for someone in particular, glancing to her datapad and then back up towards the group of people who look to be .. well.. exploring. She heads in that direction with a rumble of greeting. "grarrrl?"
[Language: Shyriiwook]
Zaena looks over at the Wookiee for a second, and then back over to the others. She bites her lip, chewing on her lip for a moment, and then looks back at the Wookiee, and then back at Ari, and then Ysille, before she turns back to Kyanggha. "I...uh...really didn't think this through, did I?" she asks. "Can you...umm...use a datapad, perhaps, for text to speech?" she asks. "In Basic, I mean. Or Hutteese, if you know it, but..." She looks rather sheepish...and offers her datapad. "All right, next thing on the list: a protocol droid."
Ysille inclines her head as she spots the wookiee checking a datapad and readying her bowcaster. "Uh, Zaena?" she wonders, "We don't owe anyone money, do we?"
Ari turns, a brief look of surprise on her face. Her demeanor is mostly calm and flat, but seeing the wookiee in her battle gear does seem to put her on edge a bit. It's more the blaster than the other woman's race; if she's from Nar Shaddaa, maybe she's used to looking over her shoulder for people packing heat.
But the twi'lek girl gets over it quickly enough. If she's from Nar Shaddaa, she's probably equally used to working with big guns in plain view. "I'm sorry. I'm at a loss too. I only speak Basic. But it is a pleasure." Her eyes drift, briefly scanning off toward the dunes beyond their gathering. "I'm guessing you're also not from around here. Are you the backup we asked for? If you don't mind, do you have any ID? I apologize for the paranoia, but I just want to make sure you're on our side." Paranoid is about right. She doesn't even mention the Explorer's Guild yet.
Kyanggha snorts in amusement, a rumble of a chuckle. "grarrrl rwarrl rwarrl rwal. rwowoal rwowoal wrall rwarrl rwarrl. rwarrl rwarrl rwal rwowoal woeieowl." She swipes on her datapad, bringing up text to be able to type. Single handed hunt and peck, her other hand keeping her bowcaster near. 'I can do basic. I'm here to keep you kids alive if someone takes offense.' She squints at Ari and then snorts amused at Ysille and adds as she shows the datpad to Zaena. 'I dont carry ID. There's not enough wookiees to bother. We're rather distinctive. How many /other/ wookiees are you expecting on Jakku?'
Zaena gives a grin. "She does have a point," she says, over to Ari. "But, I wasn't so great about letting them know who was coming. In any case, well," she says. "Sion just sent me a message - and she can drive. So I was thinking if we rent a speeder from that gentleman of commerce over there," she says, "we'll be able to vector to any places that aren't easy to land near."
She grins. "In any case, well, let's do our surveying now," she says. "All aboard?" she suggests.
Ysille smirks to Ari as she tries to card the wookiee. "Careful, I hear they like to pull arms off for stuff like that," she says sidelong before leaning forwards a little bit to read the datapad and she grins brightly behind her scarf. "Oh, perfect!" she chirps, pleased to have at least one member of the party who knows how to knock heads.
The Sender Of Messages is coming up on the group now, carefully wrapping her face with a scarf to help filter out the dust. Sion's hair is already wrapped against the wind and head, and she's exchanged her usual jacket for a white homespun tunic, her belt and holster worn over it. "I made sure to secure the ship properly," she says simply, saluting the group casually as she gets within conversational distance. "Unless the locals are even more scrap-hungry and crooked than they look, it'll still be there when we get back."
"So, I was thinking really hard about what we could hope to find and carry away," says Zaena, with a grin. "And I was thinking that there might be a few things we could intelligently look for. Hand weapons, military-spec comms, and what else might be easily retrievable from an old wreck, and be perhaps useful?" she asks.
Kyanggha gives a toothy grin at the mention of the name 'Sion' and nods. She finds a good spot to keep an eye out for arrivals, expecting and unexpected. She snorts in amusement at the mention of arm ripping. 'I save arm ripping for special occaisions.' She comments and then looks over to Sion as she comes up upon the group. "rwowoal rwowoal, rwarrl grarrrl. rwowoal woeieowl rwarrl rwowoal." [Language: Shyriiwook]
Ysille glances over as she hears a semi-familiar voice and she gives Sion a nod and a wave. "We're just heading into town to see if we can track down any juicy leads. I'm thinking finding some data cores from some of the civil war ships might bring a good few credits back in some core university's history department," she says. "They're always looking for primary sources from historical events." She nods her head to Zaena, "That stuff too," she says before starting off towards the settlement, "Come on, let's go share some of that Mon Calamari water we brought with us.."
Ari leans in to read the datapad too, a smirk spreading across her face as she gets to the latter part of the message. "Fair enough." Her eyes light up, some idea dawning on her, and she briefly turns toward Zaena. It's a brief hushed aside, though not so quiet that the others can't hear it; she's not really trying to hide it. "While we're consulting with them, maybe we can sell them on the idea of setting up a secure electronic ID system, so they can identify each other with reasonable certainty without getting advanced notice first. Might help with spur-of-the-moment collaborations in remote areas. We could make some money on that."
Back to the wookiee, she offers a genuine smile. "Alright, then, miss. I'm Ari. Thanks for the back-up. I could actually use your help for something specific right now. Mostly, I just need a little leverage for negotiations. You wouldn't need to do more than get angry on cue. Believe me, I know how much it sucks to play the stereotype, but I need that gonk, and I'm enough of an outsider that they're going to try to rip me off." /What is a gonk/?
Zaena frowns a bit, giving a quick wink to Ari - one that says 'we'll talk about -that- later." She gives a grin. "Oh, I suppose we -should- all get introduced," she says. "I'm of course, specifically Zaena, who called you," she says. "And that sounds good. I don't think my style will work all that well in negotiating with that fellow for a speeder," she says. "And it looks like there's at least some decent electronics available around at this post. All the crashed ship scrap seems to come here," she says. "So this seems like we'd have a chance at finding at least parts that could be used for you to fab that up around here." She grins. "All right. You get that Gonk," she says, with a grin. "I'll keep an eye on the ship, how about."
"woeieowl wrall rwarrl rwal wrall wrall rwarrl rwoarl. rwarrl rwarrl grarrrl rwowoal ror rwarrl rwowoal rallr wrall rwowoal rwowoal rwarrl rwowoal woeieowl." Kyanggha assures Ari with one of those toothy grins and a nod. She steps over to give Sion a one armed hug, brief but affectionate. She settles quiet, looking loomy and generally badass. "rwarrl wrall /rwarrl/ rwowoal woeieowl rwowoal? ror grarrrl? rwal? wrall rwal rwarrl 'rwal roarrl grarrrl?" She pauses and then moves to the datapad to type. 'Mission?' [Language: Shyriiwook]
Zaena steps back a bit. "Well," she says. "I think specifically you are to get mad at Ari here, on like...a prearranged secret signal, perhaps."
Ysille Vale tests her Gather Information skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (25).
You test your Gather Information skill at a 100 difficulty.
-Failed- (-37).
Ysille heads into the settlement, twirlling her bottle of water on a string, like someone who's not worried about going thirsty any time soon, they did just come from an ocean planet, after all. She wanders through some of the tents, checking out the market place, keenly listening for rumours or people talking about their latest greatest find, until she circles in on one group of scavengers hanging out. "So, where's the good pickins?" she wonders, setting her sealed water bottle on the table top as she invites herself to a seat, making sure the insignia of Mon Cal Starport is easy to spot, as well as the cap's seal has never been broken.
"You could always filibuster him, Zae," Sion suggests with a grin, returning Kyanggha's one-armed hug, and possibly ruining her tough-girl image at the same time. "Once you get started, he might give you the clothes off his back just for some peace and quiet." She looks to Kyanggha, nodding twice, and looks back to the very colorful group. "She wants to know if there's a plan, and what it is. But she does say she's very good at getting pissed off on command."
Zaena gives a grin to Ysille. "Sounds good," she says. "All right," she says, with a chuckle, heading on over with Ysille.
As she and Ysille head off to check out the area, canvassing and asking about seeing if there are any leads or information. Understandably, people are wary, but Ysille manages to at least get some to open up about the hazards in the area. It seems that there's a nasty merc group that's been operating in the vicinity - a small gang of mercs turned scavs, who have been charging protection money and often stealing the finds that they meet.
Aside from that, well, there's the usual beasties, of course, and not to mention the deadly, deadly, deadly desert. It's freezing at night and super hot by day. Lovely.
The other three, however, Ari, Sion, and Kyanggha, now have their change to arrange their little...scam on the yellow-faced, angry looking fellow known as the prime merchant in the area, or perhaps an easier target less likely to have a good, wide inventory.
Ysille frowns as reports come in about mercenary turned extortionists and she shakes her head, reaching across the table to take the scavenger's cups and pour them out on the sand before she cracks the seal of her water bottle and refills their cups. It's still cold from the ship's refridgerator, she'd frozen the bottle before leaving and the icy core gives a nice refreshing touch. "Thanks for the heads up on the robbers. What area are they working out of?" she wonders, serving the scavengers their nice refreshing exotic bottled water, instead of the condensed dewback trough slime they usally drink from.
Kyanggha follows up the group, looming along behind them playing 'bad cop' to the warm fuzzies that Ysille is passing out, or cool refreshings as the case may be. She doesn't look terribly concerned about beasties. Nor, honestly, about gangs of mercs. "rwowoal wrall wrall?" She asks, the rumble a low growl. [Language: Shyriiwook]
"Well, then!" Ari says, hands briefly rising and coming together. "I will take that a yes! If you would be so kind as to accompany me, Miss Wookiee, we can get this show started. Just wait for the signal and get angry at our friend, the merchant. You'll know it when you hear it. As for our gonk . . . " The twi'lek woman turns, finally lifting her goggles from her eyes. Her eyes trace across the camp, toward what looks like a peddler renting a host of very unimpressive-looking droids. "I think it's right over there. This shouldn't take too long. Anyone else who wants to come, come."
The deeper she gets into the camp, the more Ari stands out. She doesn't seem to care. Again, the life of a twi'lek girl on Nar Shaddaa has probably gotten her used to the wrong kind of stares and people not taking her too seriously. For her part, she seems to have developed a skin thick enough to easily bounce all of that off. If she's afraid of the myriad weapons on display here, she doesn't show it. She's either tougher than she looks, or she's just trusting the wookiee behind her. She stops a few tents short of their target. "There he is. Let me do the talking at first. Hopefully this goes well."
There are a bunch of droids circling around the man. There's one ancient astromech droid that seems to have been refitted for planetary scanning, but beyond that, these are all incredibly beat-up industrial models more suited to the work of the scavengers around here. She points at perhaps the most pathetic one. It's basically a box with stubby legs, with no arms and barely any sensors to see or hear. There's only one access port on top to hint at what it does. "How much for the gonk for a day?" The negotiation starts in earnest, and it almost immediately turns into a soft confrontation, with Ari pushing back against an initial highball price. Meanwhile, that boxy droid continues to waddle along pathetically. And sure enough with each step, it says, "Gonk." A gonk is a power droid?
Ari tests her Appraise skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (22).
Ari tests her Repair skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (13).
Ari tests her Bluff skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (41).
The merchant with the sandblasted face looks over Ari for a few moments. "New to Jakku eh?" he asks. "It's a thousand," he says. That's a ridiculous price, of course. It shouldn't even be a hundred. You could probably buy the entire settlement for a thousand. Well, that might be a -bit- of an exaggeration. But only a bit.
Sion nods, watching Ysille and Zae head off, then strolls after Ari, hanging back far enough that anyone who hadn't seen them rendezvous might not realize they're together.
Finding a spot to watch and hear the action, she leans casually on a stack of storage cases, watching surreptitiously. She's here to make sure any blaster-boys don't get the drop on Ari and Kyanggha... and that they don't last long if they try.
Kyanggha clearly is following along after /Ari/. Honest. Has been all along. For true. She nods at the mention of getting angry on command, trusting that it'll be clear. She looms behind the twi'lek, the addition of a wookiee really doesn't do anything for the whole 'not getting stared at' thing. She has her bowcaster to hand, holding it all casual like. Casual. That's it. [Language: Shyriiwook]
Kyanggha tests her Intimidate skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (34).
"Well, now that we're all hydrated," Ysille smiles after the scavengers explain about the bandits, she draws out her hip flask and unscrews the cap, "I believe we were talking about good hauls," she says. "See, I've got a ship that can haul a bit more than any dewback or swoop can," she says, glancing over to some of the small time sleds that the locals use. "Any good spots over the horizon? We could even bring you back a momento or two on our way back.." she refreshes the cups with a small shot of raava before she takes a swig herself.
"Well, now that we're all hydrated," Ysille smiles after the scavengers explain about the bandits, she draws out her hip flask and unscrews the cap, "I believe we were talking about good hauls," she says. "See, I've got a ship that can haul a bit more than any dewback or swoop can," she says, glancing over to some of the small time sleds that the locals use. "Any good spots over the horizon? We could even bring you back a momento or two on our way back.." she refreshes the cups with a small shot of raava before she takes a swig herself.
Kyanggha curls one of her lips up in a bit of a snarl, which gives a pretty damn good indication of exactly what she thinks of /that/ particular offer. "rwowoal rwarrl rwal wrall woeieowl rwowoal rwowoal grarrrl /rwowoal/ rwowoal wrall rwowoal?" She growls, looking from Ari and then back to the shady merchant and then back to Ari. "rwal rwowoal grarrrl rwarrl rwowoal rwowoal wrall rwal... grarrrl.. rwal." She takes a half step towards the guy, raising her arm as if to give him wookiee sort of 'encouragement'. It isn't a quick movement, Ari could 'hold her back' without too much trouble. [Language: Shyriiwook]
The merchant seems to shift a little bit, uncomfortably, in front of Ari now, as he spies the Wookiee right up there, back behind the twi'lek. He seems like he might be off his game...and he shifts a little bit.
"I mean, where do you think this is?" he asks, looking down at the gonk. "I mean...look..." He glances around a bit. "Look, okay...uh..." He flops his hand a bit. "Look, you can uh...." He considers a bit. "The engineer you say?" He looks a little nervous. "Look, uh, you can have both the gonk and a barge for a day for five hundred. But I can't turn down the chance to make some creds," he says. "There, how's that sound?" he offers, with a nervous look up at the wookiee.
Though they were willing enough to share information about the dangers, as soon as Ysille asks again about scav spots, it seems like they clam up a bit. "I suppose it was hoping for a little too much," says Zaena with a smile. "I mean, we're the competition for these folks, after all."
Sion watches, and listens, and waits. So far, no sign of trouble...
Ysille frowns as the scavengers clam up, "Interesting way of looking at it, since I offered cargo space on the Habit to share a run," she sighs and gets up, leaving the two behind without a thought as she begins circulating the settlement again, sipping from her flask. "I guess playing nice isn't going to get us anywhere on this rock," she says, looking about for someone who looks like they might be easy to intimidate.
Ari scrambles to hold her arms out to "hold back" the wookiee. "No! Not here!" she says, feigning understanding of the wookiee. "He can't rent us a droid if he's missing an arm!"
Kyanggha huffs irritatbly as she's kept from her arm ripping delight. "rwal grarrrl rwowoal grarrrl rwowoal grarrrl rallr rwowoal rwowoal grarrrl rwoarl rwarrl grarrrl wrall grarrrl wrall, rwal rwarrl woeieowl rwarrl rwarrl wrall grarrrl ror woeieowl roarrl." That growl doesn't sound /thrilled/ by the rate offered. [Language: Shyriiwook]
Sion tests her Spot skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (35).
Zaena gives a shrug. "Look, I thought we found something good about those mercenaries," she says. "We know what to look for out there," she says, with a grin. "I just don't think we'll be able to find scavs willing to give up a good spot. They don't think the way you're saying - they think that anything they know about is all theirs. It's like asking a prospector if you can have some of the mother lode they found, if you help carry some," she says, with a smirk.
She nods to Ysille. "Come on, let's go back to he others," she says.
The merchant scowls. "Look, all right? We good on the five hundred? For the gonk and the barge?" he asks. "Or just a hundred for just the Gonk, okay?"
Ysille has another sip of her raava and screws the cap back on before tucking it away as she wadners over to the others with sigh, "Short sighted outlook. With the help of a ship, they could get enough of their scrap into town to really start an operation worthy of the name scav.. Hauling junk for rations is a sad life."
"You're exactly right, Ysille," she says. "But I don't know. It's the only life we know. For all they know rich people coming into town like this just scam them," she says. "So...well, while it's too bad, that's the way it is." She gives a smile to Sion. "Hey, how does it seem to be going?" she asks, as Ari and Kyanggha work the merchant.
Ari finally manages to "calm" the still-growling wookiee. "You're a good man, my friend," she says to the merchant. "You drive a hard bargain, but you've treated with me fairly, so 500 it is. We'll take the barge too." There's no harm in buttering up your opponent after you win. Fewer grudges are generally good business, especially for someone like her, who commonly works with angry scumbags. A minute or so more of work follows, mostly just finalizing the paperwork and arranging Ari's clearance to take the items for the day.
Once she's done, Ari pats Kyanggha on the back and leans in, a bit more humor on her face. "Good work there. Remind me never to try to cheat you." She makes her way to Sion. "You can drive that thing, right? Probably a bit slower than your usual fare, but it's about the same deal, right?" She gestures to the gonk afterward, talking to it in an almost strangely sweet voice. "Come along now. I'm going to be working with you today." Well, she's nice to droids, at least, even if she has a hard edge around people made of flesh.
Ari finally manages to "calm" the still-growling wookiee. "You're a good man, my friend," she says to the merchant. "You drive a hard bargain, but you've treated with me fairly, so 500 it is. We'll take the barge too." There's no harm in buttering up your opponent after you win. Fewer grudges are generally good business, especially for someone like her, who commonly works with angry scumbags. A minute or so more of work follows, mostly just finalizing the paperwork and arranging Ari's clearance to take the items for the day.
Once she's done, Ari pats Kyanggha on the back and leans in, a bit more humor on her face. "Good work there. Remind me never to try to cheat you." She makes her way to Sion. "You can drive that thing, right? Probably a bit slower than your usual fare, but it's about the same deal, right?" She gestures to the gonk afterward, talking to it in an almost strangely sweet voice. "Come along now. I'm going to be working with you today." Well, she's nice to droids, at least, even if she has a hard edge around people made of flesh.
Sion glances up. "It's the old 'company town' scam my uncle told me about once," she says quietly. "The owner brings in the credits and the resources and sets up, and brings in a bunch of poor grubbers to do all the work to 'work off their debt for transportation.' Only everything costs a mint, so they never do. This one takes it a step farther with trading for food... which I'm guessing isn't much more than emergency rations, and those you can practically get for free."
She glances back at the bargaining. "Looks like they're done now." And then Ari arrives, smiling a little, Kyanggha in tow. "A barge? I'd just need a couple minutes to get the basics down. Other than that, it could be any landspeeder. Do we have anyplace to take it?"
Ari looks around at the others as they gather. "That depends. Did you get any leads? Want me to try working the crowd? I've done my share of that."
Zaena's eys widen as she smiles to Ari. "Wow! That's quite some good negotiating," she says. "But then again, I don't think there's much here that could stop a pissed off Wookiee. Let the Wookiee win seems to be the name of the day on this dustball," she says. "Ah, I think I see," she says, with a nod to Sion. "Yeah, that makes sense," she says, with a nod. "Probably a lot of it's scavved off these very ships, if I'm not mistaken." She looks a little impressed.
"Well, that should help us move around rather easily," she says.
"Ysille," she says, thoughtfully. "And Ari. Here's what I was thinking. You two fly around, Ari runs the sensors, and you vector us towards someplace. We can secure the site on the ground, and then go and fetch you for any needed slicing at your nearest landing spot. That way, nobody does any walking, and we get the best of both worlds." She grins. "Does that sound good?"
She smiles back to Ari. "No leads yet," she says. "But. We did find out that there's a danger in the area - a group of mercs that have apparently been...extorting from the scavs. As if they don't have it rough enough."
"rwarrl. wrall /rwarrl/ rwarrl." Kyan follows up with, still a bit huffy as Ari 'calms' her and nudges her away. There's a snort and a smirk once her back is turned away from the merchant and she comes to join the rest of them as they gather. "rwoarl rwal worowl. rwowoal rwowoal grarrrl rwoarl rwarrl?" She looks around at the group and then nods at the general suggestion of what they do. [Language: Shyriiwook]
"Sounds like we should be careful... and maybe teach these mercs some manners if they come under our guns," Sion suggests. "Fighting on the ground is playing into their hands, I'm guessing."
Her attention strays to Zaena and Kyanggha. "Everybody got a blaster, or something just as good? The last thing we want is to be caught unarmed out there. Okay, next to last thing. The last thing is to be caught without water."
Kyanggha hefts her bowcaster at Sion's question. "grarrrl wrall rwarrl rwoarl, rwal grarrrl rwowoal rwowoal woeieowl rwarrl wrall rwal rwarrl rallr." [Language: Shyriiwook]
"I think it's going to come to that in this town," Ysille says. "Will the skiff fit on the ship?" she wonders. "We'll want to get out of range of town at the very least. I think a thousand kilometers or two should do the trick to get out of the really picked over areas," she suggests.
"That, my dear," Ari says to Zaena, "is exactly what I was going to suggest! Two teams it is, then. Me and Ysille scout ahead on the Habit. Sion, Kyanggha, and you will follow in the barge." She pushes the power droid toward Sion. It only reluctantly leaves the twi'lek's side. Good treatment is probably hard to come by in a place like this, with a lot of desperate people ready to take their frustrations out on a walking block of batteries. "You're going with her, dear."
She walks away into the crowd, turning and talking over her shoulder as she does. "Give me five minutes more before we move out. I'm going to see if I can get more information about these mercenaries. I want to know if they have ships or not."
Kyanggha nudges Sion a touch. "rwarrl rwowoal rwowoal wrall rwowoal /wrall/ wrall, rwarrl wrall rwarrl grarrrl rwarrl." She asks, hopeful in Sion's translation skills. She pauses a moment and then holds up her datapad after typing a moment in Ari's direction, probably to be ignored. 'How many mercs?' [Language: Shyriiwook]
The merchant comes out of his little hut and seems to be thinking about something. "Hey," he says. "Watch out like...just give it up if those mercs folks have been talking about ride up on you on their luggabeasts," he grumbles. "Don't be getting the barge all broken, you hear?"
"Um, Ari? Maybe you should check on /how many/ mercs there are, too?" Sion suggests, taking the hint from Kyanggha. "We've only got one set of guns."
Zaena shakes her head. "Uh, no, we don't, unfortunately," she replies, a bit sheepishly. "It's one of the disarmed models after the Treaty, to get the cheapest licensing categories, I guess," she says. "That's part of why I'm trying to get it a record of legit trades, so that it can apply for a civilian defense license once they're available."
Zaena frowns. "Wait a minute...umm...it /does/ have shields..." She grins. "Ysille, how do you feel about umm...perhaps a more traditional method of engagement? I'm talking about ramming, if need be." Or you could hover and blast them with the engines."
"We definitely need numbers," Sion says, frowning as the merchant speaks up. "Are they likely to fire on the vehicle if we're in it?"
The merchant looks back at Sion dumbly. "I'm not stupid enough to go out there," he says.
Zaena shakes her head. "Look," she says. "This is a merc group that survives off stealing from these scavvers. They ride up on these luggabeasts," she says. "That means I really doubt there can be more than a handful. A half dozen is probably too many," she says. She grins at Ysille. "That's probably true. Which is rather why we have to take these sorts of risks," she says. "Even if we found a few holocomms or something, that would be quite valuable," she says, nodding over to Ari.
"You're absolutely right about that," she agrees. "Perhaps we could even look into finding potential weapon parts that could be retrievable from the massive shipwreck graveyard," she says, with a beam.
"Hey, if we go far enough out, maybe we'll be able to find a turbolaser that just needs some TLC and CLR to get it in working order," Ysille winks to Ari as the pair head out towards the ship.
"Hey, if we go far enough out, maybe we'll be able to find a turbolaser that just needs some TLC and CLR to get it in working order," she winks to Ari as the pair head out towards the ship.
"Forget I asked. I'm sure that won't be any trouble for you," Sion fires back at the merchant, turning to leave. "Careful is definitely the word. Let's just make sure anything we go into isn't merc-infested before we get to work, and keep a good watch once we do. You can see a ship from a long way away, even on the ground, and that's a dead giveaway."
Kyanggha waits. Watching as the pack of 'em debate and consider and discuss the ship in question. She keeps an eye out for people who are taking undue interest. "worowl rwowoal grarrrl rwarrl rwarrl rwarrl rwowoal woeieowl, grarrrl rwowoal ror." She rumbles almost absently. [Language: Shyriiwook]
"Most of these wrecks are in the dunes, by the way. Remember that. You can get close to the ground without much fear of damage, and in the worst case scenario, the engine wash will blow the sand a few hundred yards, along with anyone on it. A few close passes will probably disrupt any attack," Ari says. "Personal weaponry will do basically nothing against ship shields. Not to mention the double-layered armor that's stock on the YT-2400. We /do/ have shields, right?"
Ari tests her Computer Use skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (22).
Kyanggha waits. Watching as the pack of 'em debate and consider and discuss the ship in question. She keeps an eye out for people who are taking undue interest. "worowl rwowoal grarrrl rwarrl rwarrl rwarrl rwowoal woeieowl, grarrrl rwowoal ror." She rumbles almost absently. [Language: Shyriiwook]
The barge shudders forth on its creaky repulsorlifts, carrying the gonk, Kyanggha, Sion, and Zaena. Overhead, about a kilometer away, causing a delightful swooshing sound is the sight of the YT-2400 piloted by Captain Vale, the Bad Habit in full swing and making a sensor scan. The wrecks of the Star Destroyers seem a little more picked over...but there's clearly a few readings coming from that MC-80 wreck that's speared vertically into the ground.
<<**Tssscht** Spotted an MC80 up ahead, vector 62, one hundred K**Tssscht**>> Comes the heads up over the comlink as the Bad Habit heads off to inspect the area, circling it to scan for signs of life or active electronics in the area.
The power's off for decades, but there's clearly still some equipment aboard, because the sensors are able to detect antennae resonances and such. The higher up the vessel, the more there appears to be. There's also the organic signatures of a number of bodies - scavs that have died attempting to climb the wreck. Likely a few have been successful, but it seems quite dangerous.
In the driver's seat, Sion peers through her goggles at the endless sands of what must be the galaxy's second-largest litter box. She handles the vehicle well, after the first minute or so. After that, it's just a matter of following the ship's lead. <<Copy that, /Habit/. Groundhog is en route. Oh, wow... I hope somebody brought climbing gear? I don't know how high this barge can go.>>
Kyanggha is watching out behind them, holding her bowcaster close in case of 'friends'. "woeieowl rwal rwowoal." She comments and then asks. "rwal rwowoal rwal rwal, woeieowl woeieowl rwarrl rwarrl worowl?" [Language: Shyriiwook]
"It can't go that high, I'm pretty sure," says Zaena, looking up and frowning a little bit at the grand vessel. "That one might be good to mark down for the Guild," she says. "It seems like it's potentially a major find, to be frank." She smiles a bit. "If only we could just even find a way to gain access to a computer," she says. "Still, I don't want to break my neck trying to climb that thing, I suppose." She shrugs. "Shall we look elsewhere?"
The YT2400 completes a few circles before apporaching a spot of firm looking ground nearby. <<If it comes down to it, we could use the Habit's repulsors and gain entry from a hatch near the top of the ship. Let's see if we can find the command centre,>> Ysille says giving the ship a scan for likely areas. Sure Imperial ships have obvious bridges, but those Mon Calamari like to make every ship as individual as possible. Damned artists.
"We have a /ship/, Zae," Sion points out. "Think any of the docking ports still work?"
Zaena frowns. "I know we do but," She bites her lip a little bit. "I'm not sure about that. I mean, even if we got in, the thing would be on its side, right? We'd have to climb everywhere," she says. "No, I think we should...report back on this one. But that one seems a little rich for my blood," she says. "Just look around, it's not the only opportunity. I don't know. I tend to always shy away from the /most/ dangerous thing I can see. Tempting as it is," she says. "Hey, Ysille. Give it a few flybys," she says. "We can make some scans and send them back to the Guild."
She smiles. "And can you check the bridge, perhaps, of the Star Destroyer, just in case?" she says, pointing to another nearly intact wreck.
"Maybe we can try later," Sion says. "There might be ropes on the ship, and I'm sure we have emergency harnesses that could work for climbing rigs, if we want a closer look." She changes course again, aiming for the Star Destroyer in question. "I didn't get much of that, Kyang. But I'm wondering about how they died, too."
Kyanggha watches for incoming opposition, quietly fufilling her role as brute squad on this endeavour. "woeieowl rwarrl worowl, rwowoal rwarrl grarrrl grarrrl wrall wrall rwarrl grarrrl." She nods at Sion's guess on what she said, confirming that as her question. [Language: Shyriiwook]
It doesn't appear that there's anywhere on the cruiser that the YT-2400 can land, without an alarming creak in the shell of the old structure.
Ari tests her Computer Use skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (36).
Ari's scanners pick up something interesting as Ysilla crosses past the MC80s dark side. The clearly still enclosed form of an assault shuttle, with its hardened crew compartment still showing up as a solid closed mass. It's far enough out past another set of dunes, clearly crashed and unmoved for thirty years and mostly covered in sand, and its powerful docking doors as an assault transport would have not been easy for an unequipped scav to open.
The Bad Habit touches the MC-80 and quickly lifts off again in a touch and go procedure every pilot knows, the magnetic clamps pulling bits of hull plating off of it, which flit down to the ground as the mags are disengaged. <<Damn, that thing's rusted out>> she says, spotting the dust trail of the skiff already heading off towards one of the star destroyers many leagues away. She banks the Bad Habit and quickly overtakes the slower skiff, giving the ship a scan.
<<Sorry, we got our wires crossed. Ari says the shuttle is twenty K away from the destroyer. Adjust your course due 80degrees, we'll meet you there.>>
<<Copy, /Habit/. Groundhog changing course for rendezvous.>> Sion makes the appropriate adjustments to their heading. There's /salvage/ in them thar dunes!
Considering the usual reputation of wookiees, Kyanggha is very good at being patient, watching and waiting over the sand for incoming malcontents. [Language: Shyriiwook]
Ysille brings the Bad Habit to rest as near the buried assault shuttle as possible, then gets her engineering tools together for the salvage operation. With goggles fixed and welding gloves on, the wroonian disembarks and begins giving the sand covered hull a good inspection.
Ari tests her Repair skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (21).
Sion pulls the creaky old barge to a stop not far from the /Bad Habit/, careful not to block the path between shuttle and ship. If they have to make a run for it, the ship's the safest place to be. She shuts the vehicle's drive down, leaving it on low-power standby, and sighs. "Thank you for taking Corvara Cab Service. Please collect any litter you may have left, as well as your luggage, and exit the vehicle to the right. Have a pleasant day!"
Ari directs the gonk to waddle up, and after a number of minutes of little excitement, finally, the doorway into the barge of the assault shuttle lowers.
The gonk shudders in apparent pain as his charge is deeply drained, and then Ari disconnects him after it's open, revealing the interior.
The Wroonian struggles lugging her gear over to the shuttle, the plasma torch isn't heavy, but the fuel cannisters are! Already worked up into a sweat, she grins as she spots the others arriving. "Hey gang, Ari spotted something that might be good for the guild," she says, nodding to the relatively in tact assault shuttle. "There's bound to be stormtrooper gear in there," she winces as she wonders about the state of any armour they come across.
Kyanggha hops out of the barge and pads over to heft the fuel cannisters and carry them. She doesn't find them all that heavy, that's clear. "woeieowl rwarrl rwal rwowoal rwoarl wrall grarrrl rwowoal roarrl, rwowoal woeieowl rwarrl rwarrl rwarrl grarrrl rwowoal." [Language: Shyriiwook]
Whatever lifecycles of decomposition had cycled through time after time, picked clean and then killed prior populations, with no food source aside from the bodies of the soldiers who had mercifully died on impact, rattled around like dice in a cup. Much of the equipment inside is broke, but it looks like there might be some salvageable weapons and pieces of military gear - maybe some sort of broken comms, although it's hard to tell what's working and what might be a holocomm or what not. A heavy, locked case of some sort seems to be over in a corner, and there's the screen of a terminal over at the other end.
"Hey, thanks, K!" Ysille smiles as she feels the heavy fuel cells pulled from her shoulders by the mighty wookiee. Once set up, the wroonian gets to cutting through the door, fixing her goggles to protect her vision. "Oh no," she winces as the smell hits her, her eyes watering almost immediately. "I've made a big mistake," she says, stepping back as she fans herself. "Better get some air filters from the ship," she says.
Sion drops from the barge, moving to take up a lookout position. She's no mechanic, and she knows it. Seeing Zae's response to the mess inside, she's suddenly glad she did. "Do we have any macrobinoculars or anything inside the ship? I can take the lookout's job. I wouldn't be any help here."
"rwarrl rwarrl rallr rwal rwal." Kyanggha rumbles as she waits for the door to be opened and the first bits of stale old air gets replaced with dry dusty air. Possibly not so much of an improvement. "grarrrl wrall rwarrl grarrrl wrall. rwarrl wrall wrall rwowoal wrall rwarrl woeieowl wrall rwowoal rwarrl worieowl, rwarrl worieowl." [Language: Shyriiwook]
Sion says, "Hey, thanks, K!" Ysille smiles as she feels the heavy fuel cells pulled from her shoulders by the mighty wookiee. Once set up, the wroonian gets to cutting through the door, fixing her goggles to protect her vision. "Oh no," she winces as the smell hits her, her eyes watering almost immediately. "I've made a big mistake," she says, stepping back as she fans herself. "Better get some air filters from the ship," she says." [Language: Basic]
"Sorry, Kyang... I didn't get enough to understand that," Sion confesses. "But I think I got 'take what you want'?" She moves towards the YT's ramp, to find a spot on top of it to play watchtower.
Kyanggha nods in agreement at Sion's guess and then moves to find herself a nice complimentary location to play spotter from. Waiting for opposition. [Language: Shyriiwook]
Ysille fixes an air filter over her mouth and nose beneath her scarf and quietly drops into the assault shuttle, looking for good looking bits that are still intact. "Aw, most of this stuff is fubar," she says, sorting through bits and pieces. "There are a few personal items in here," she says, gathering them up in a single spot. "I wonder if we could dig out some of the ship's guns for installation on the Habit?"
"Any decent pistols that aren't junked?" Sion asks over the comlink, as she comes out the upper docking hatch. Stepping out onto the roof of the /Bad Habit/, she moves to take a good look at that horizon. "Or rifles? Anything that might fetch a price?"
Ysille does her best fair ground huckster pitch impression as Sion asks about loot. She unhooks some of the blaster rifles off of the rack from behind the seat. "I suppose we could scrub out this armour, if you're into the retro thing?" she asks, pushing one of the skeletal troopers to the side as she pats him down, checking for anything that isn't rotted.
"Um... leave any /something/ stuff, Kyang says. She'll come in later," Sion calls, still trying to puzzle out Wookiee-speak via comlink. "Any sidearms? I've been told they used DL-44s for a long time in the Empire."
Comlink doesn't do shyriiwook any favours. Kyan rumbles, faintly amused at the bit that Sion didnt' manage and she leans over to flex an arm in Sion's direction to give a clue on the bit that the other missed. She settles back to watching out over the dunes, bowcaster to hand. [Language: Shyriiwook]
Ari tests her Computer Use skill at a 100 difficulty.
+SUCCESS+ (47).
A few of the gear is put together into a large bag and loaded onto the barge. "Well, we can sort out what's repairable later," she says, with a grin, slapping the barge as Ari finishes downloading data with the help of the gonk, powering up the screen and then slicing into a system. "Hmm, this is interesting," says the other twi'lek. "It seems like there is a distress signal saved here - abandoning ship, for unknown reason, on a frigate somewhere. Something else to know."
Zaena smiles. "All right, let's load up." And with most of the things loaded up, well, suddenly, a blaster bolts sings out from atop a nearby ridge, singing out towards the twi'lek as she helps load!!
<Combat> NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251)'s attack misses Zaena at a 100 difficulty! (-37)
Ysille laughs, "I don't think the Empire used Blastech, though they might have co-opted some designs. haven't you seen those old advertisements blastech had?" she chuckles, remembering the ones with the stormtrooper in the crosshairs for a scope advertisement. She checks out the pilot's body and fetches his pistol, turning it over and tossing it into the bag with the rest of the stuff when she hears the blaster fire. "Oh kark, is someone shooting at us?"
Zaena lets out a sudden shout of alarm as the bolt sears past her head and disippates leaving a dark black scoring mark against the hull of the barge. She immediately hits the dirt. "Augh!" With her vibroblade coming out, she tries to hide. "Umm, I'll make sure you don't get ambushed up close!"
Charging up against the group are a trio of mercenaries, shouting victory against the five, stampeding up on their big luggerbeasts and leveling rifles! The cavalry's coming, and it's bearing down fast!
"E-lls /are/ BlasTech, remember?" Sion replies... and blinks as fire starts coming in. She quickly looks for the source. "Hit the dust!"
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack hits NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 100 difficulty! (17)
* Damage: 54 wound and 5 stun.
- Your "NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251)" was saved from destruction by being near you.
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 100 difficulty! (-64)
"Were they?" Ysille wonders, taking cover in the assault shuttle, if there's one safe place during fire fight, it's on board an assault shuttle!
The lead of the charging trio is knocked right out of the saddle by the first bolt from the bowcaster of the wook. A delightfully stereotypical 'AAAAAUAUAUUAGH!" accompanies his lying down in the dirt now. The luggerbeast that he was riding slows to a curious stop.
Covering her head and seeking cover, Zaena helps continue the argument under fire. "I think Blastech was a republic company, and the Empire was a major customer, but they also sold overruns of 'prototypes' on the sly!" she says. "I remember reading about the cases in law school!" she says, ducking just a bit as a blaster bolt pings right near her.
<Combat> Sion's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 100 difficulty! (-29)
<Combat> Sion's attack hits NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 110 difficulty! (2)
* Damage: 25 wound and 2 stun.
<Combat> NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251)'s attack misses Kyanggha at a 120 difficulty! (-34)
<Combat> NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251)'s attack misses Sion at a 130 difficulty! (-42)
Sion opens fire from the top of the ship. "Get some distance, girls! They're not set for stun!"
As they charge up on their luggabeasts, the pair of cloth-swaddled mercenaries open up with their rather cluge blaster rifles. They don't have quite as good of a shot, as the crew of the Bad Habit and Kyanggha now are aware of them and have some cover, and the second one takes a shot in from Sion first, wounding him and making his return fire a little more difficult.
Zaena awaits inside the door of the transport ship, just in case they get close enough to engage more directly. "Those beasts look big and scary..."
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 90 difficulty! (-34)
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 90 difficulty! (-2)
<Combat> Sion's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 90 difficulty! (-27)
<Combat> Sion's attack misses NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 100 difficulty! (-16)
The line of cavalry gets closer. Much closer now, in fact, but there are only two on the big beasts. "Get the riders! They'll be upon us!" Zaena screeches now, as the beasts put away their weapons and draw big, nasty looking lances.
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack hits NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 80 difficulty! (2)
* Damage: 45 wound and 4 stun.
<Combat> Kyanggha's attack hits NPC: Mercenary (Exotic) (1251) at a 80 difficulty! (60)
* Damage: 77 wound and 7 stun.
However, as they get closer, the day is saved! Kyanggha's accurate bowcaster fire manages to level the two enemies, leaving them running away, with Sion's shots able to find them out. Zaena gasps, a little bit, looking back up over to Zaena and Kyanggha, giving a smile. "Wow!" She grins. "Sure am glad you two came along on this one," she says, looking relieved. "I think Captain Vale and Ari and I would have been in big trouble if you two weren't here."
When the blasterfire stops, Ysille climbs out of the hatch of the assault shuttle to see the bandits fleeing. "YEah!" she says, fronting like a ganger. "That's what you get!"
Zaena grins. "Yeah! They must have been too afraid to engage too closely, once they saw this vibroblade," she says, with a grin, glancing over at Sion. The enemies are all groaning and crawling, trying to make themselves away. One of them seems to be less badly injured than the others, the second one Kyanggha shot, and moves to start helping the other ones.
"Kyanggha," says Zaena. "I don't think we should push our luck." She smiles. "Let's load up on the ship and split this system."
The wookie moves to quickly load up the barge with the broken comms gear and blasters - hopefully some of it will be salvageable.
Zaena hops up on to the barge and then reaches down, helping Kyanggha put up the gonk. "All right, now let's get out of here," she says, wiping a little sweat from her brow. "Scavving needs better air conditioning, if you ask me."
Sion hurries over to check over the fallen mercs' gear, and keep an eye out for the rest if they decide to circle back. "Be just a sec..."
The wounded mercs are helping each other retreat. They will defend themselves if prosecuted, but it seems they wish to collect their animals and live to fight another day. One of them looks like he might already be dead or dying, but they don't seem like they want to leave any bodies or gear.
Ysille holsters her deadly blaster and drags some of the loot from the shuttle over to the Bad Habit, sweating from the effort. "Come on, Sion! They might regroup!" she says, upset that the bandits will be able to take their time with the shuttle and get anything that was nailed down. She dumps her bag of junk on the deck and dashes up towards the cockpit to get the engines running.
Sion shakes her head, then moves to rejoin her friends. "On the plus side, they might not be so keen to hit scavengers in the near future." She drops into the pilot's seat of the barge, bringing up the power systems as Kyang helps Ysille with the salvage. "Meet you back at Port Hopeless?"
The wookie moves to quickly load up the barge with the broken comms gear and blasters - hopefully some of it will be salvageable.
Zaena hops up on to the barge and then reaches down, helping Kyanggha put up the gonk. "All right, now let's get out of here," she says, wiping a little sweat from her brow. "Scavving needs better air conditioning, if you ask me."
Sion nods, angling to pass over it at an angle, just for a little extra reaction time if there's something nasty on the other side. Wouldn't want to drive straight into one of the Sarlaacs she's heard about on Tatooine, after all. They're not exclusive to that world. "On the way. Might better watch our back trail, though. Just in case they have vehicles nobody's seen yet."
Zaena grins back to Ysille, waving to her from the barge. "All right, Captain! Bring the ship back to Niimu, we'll rendezvous there.
The nasty merchant is relieved, after Sion's skillfil driving past a treacherous dunefall, to see his barge (mostly) in one piece and his gonk intact. He doesn't ask about the salvage or anything, and Zaena isn't trading. "We'll sort all that junk later, see if anything is working. I'm more interested about Rax has to say about the data that Ari pulled off the computer," she says.
Zaena gives a warm smile to Kyanggha. "Thanks for coming on such short notice," she says, giving a grin at Sion, and then Ysille. "All right then," she says, with a smirk. "Time to get to the Bad Habit. I think I need about an hour in the refresher."
